‘Culture of control’: Minister threatens council over ‘silencing’ dissent

A Sydney council has been threatened with state government intervention after accusations it has tried to silence its own elected councillors.

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig warned Georges River Council he intends to hit it with a performance improvement notice unless it complies with an order to not impede with “the right of a councillor’s ability to communicate about political matters” and scraps rules that force councillors to register interactions with the media.

Georges River Councillor Ashvini Ambihaipahar was hit with a code of conduct investigation for making mild criticisms of the council.Credit: Jessica Hromas

The order follows a series of instances in which Labor-aligned councillors at Georges River say they have been issued code of conduct complaints, or were rebuked by staff, after raising issues in the media, in what Hoenig described as a “culture of control”.

Ashvini Ambihaipahar, a Labor councillor as well as the leading candidate to replace retiring federal MP Linda Burney in the Sydney seat of Barton, became the subject of a code of conduct investigation after she went on Nine News to hit out at the use of ticketless parking fines by councils.

She said ticketless fines were “really unfair” for drivers, but this prompted a complaint that is being investigated by the council via a third party.

Ambihaipahar has spent months fighting the investigation, which she said was a waste of ratepayers’ money and had led to councillors being “muzzled by bureaucratic rules”.

“We’re not there to be a glorified board, just saying yea and nay to whatever the staff wants,” she said.

The investigation prompted Hoenig to issue the council with the improvement order, saying it was the third example of Georges River seeking to “silence a democratically elected councillor”.

He warned the council that it could be in breach of the Local Government Act by “constraining” councillors’ ability to act in the interests of residents.

Another Labor councillor, Thomas Gao, received a reprimand from council staff by email after he was quoted in a local newspaper calling for a study into traffic safety in Carlton.

The email – which was first reported by 2GB – warned Gao that the traffic issue “should not be raised in the media, but through committee meetings or through traffic committee”. The email also reminded Gao that under the council policy he was required to register all contact with the media.

In another case, Hoenig said Georges River’s former Labor mayor Nick Katris was “censured” after a disagreement with council staff over the accuracy of an internal report.

Improvement orders are considered the first step before state government intervention. They aim to give councils the chance to resolve an issue before actions such as suspension.

But the council has hit back, denying it had sought to silence councillors, and criticising Hoenig over what it called an “unwarranted … uncertain and inappropriate” intervention.

Councillors are due to consider Hoenig’s order at its meeting on Monday night. While council staff have recommended dropping the policy requiring councillors to register any contact with media, they have also recommended rejecting the improvement order as “invalid”.

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